The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1887-09-17

that we were equally smitten. So the
days and nights passed, until our des-
was reached.
1t was not bigl camp. Something
like one hundred and fifty men had To-
Gated on the banks of little stream,
and though our arrival was regarded |
with some little jealousy, our reception
was fairly cordial, as such receptions
go. Our charge lost no time in max
ing INQUIRIES, and when she heard that
such a person as she described as her
brother had not been seen or heard of,
she took to her tent and spent her days
in weeping and repining' Fred and l
lost no time in getting to work, how
ever, and to make long story shorter,
our luck was simply marvellous. We
"struck it, the very first day, and our
"finds" kept increasing in number and
wealth. After week or ten days our
fair friend-whose sex remained plo-
found secret in the camp, the young
lady passing as my younger brother
insisted on coming to work with us,
and developed remarkable facility
for discovering the precious grains.
Her smooth, daintily-tapering fingers
soon became MS brown and begrimed
as our own. Notwithstanding the vigor-
GUS protests of Fred and myself as to
the sacrilege of such a thing, and in
another week or so she had evidently
forgotten all about her brother, and
had become as expert and thirsty q
gold-miner as either of us.
Meanwhile the presence of this beau
tiful creature was exercising an influ-
ence over us, the strength of which we
were both unaware. 1t was not until
one night | discovered Fred glaring
blood-thiktily at me from corner
where he was lying, as after hard
days work was sitting on an empty
barrel in the tent with the young lady's
hand claspcd fraternally in both my
own that l begun to realize it all.
1t grew worse after that. Our
guest-and | say it in no spirit of
vanity-evidenced something of pref
erence for me-but let that pass. Fred
grew sulkily after that, and several
times we checked ourselves on the
brink of a quarrel. But just as we hac;
succeeded in making ourselves as thor
ouyhly uncomfortable as two foolish fell
lows will under such circumstances, the
pretext for disputing was suddenly re-
moved. We awoke one morning to
find all trace of our fair guest depart
ed, save little note, in q delicate
Italian hand, pinned to the center-polc
of the tent. All it said was this:
MY FAITHFUL FRIEND: ThiEk me not un
grateful, have been burden - yOu too long
go to seek my poor brother, ard have taken
little OF the gold, for must have something
to sustain life. For your unspealtable goodness
TO me shall ever remember you in my prayers
The letter was unsigned. We look.
ed at each other for q moment. Neither
of us liked to be the first to examine
the pile of gold. But curiosity was toe
strong and silently we dsentombed the
earthen resort wherein our treasure
was buried. Only small nuggets were
gone, otherwise the store was intact.
The generous girl had rewarded oul
devotion with almost ninety per cent
of her own earnings by her own untir
ing toll
believe we both wept silently fol-
a few minutes; the girl had woven her
self into our hearts somehow. Blu
presently Fred stretched out his hanC
and in moment there had been re
established a friendship that remained
unbroken until twenty years afterward
when poor Fred turned his face to tn,
scorching African sky, with biz
Zulu's assegai through his heart.
Our luck did not desert US with tn,
departure of our guest We kept nd
ding daily to our store, and alread,
had enough to make Fred and mysel
and our two silent partners in Mel
bourne comfortable for life. We wer
very reticent about our good fortune
and fear told a good many lies t.
conceal it from the rest of the camp
We divided our hoard into two equa
parts, and buried them in two separat
corners of the tent, adding to them da,
by day until at last we concluded we'
had enough, and spoke of an early re
turn to Melbourne and comparative civ
ilization.
Then-shall ever forget the grie
and horror of that sultry morning whe
we each of us awoke with split
ting head staring stupid
at the two empty. earther
pitchers, that lay bottom upwards, tel
ing us we were once again as PENN
less as when we reached the camp
The thief, whoever he was, had pei
formed his work well; he had chlorc
formed us both as we lay sleeping, an
had then ruthlessly riied our store.
"Its all because the little girl LEI